The Way of Success - Part 1

I mean, if you want to be successful, do you know which way to go? Do you have a roadmap? Do you have a guide?

Here's the thing. How are you going to get there if you don't know the way?

And that's why everyone and his dog will tell you how to be successful. But... let's face it... if you don't know the way to success, well, you really only have two choices:

1. You can wait for someone to tell you, OR

2. You can figure it out for yourself

Let's take the first one first:

The Way of Success - Wait for someone to tell you.

It's quite possible that someone could tell you the way of success. The downside though, is that you may not know whether they're right or not until after you try it. By which time it could be too late.

Unfortunately, it also leaves the way open for some unscrupulous people to take advantage. It also leaves the way open for the Me-Too brigade, you know those people who see someone with a good idea and hijack it as their own. Essentially they push the same message but give it a slightly different spin.

Know what I mean?

Now please don't go too far the wrong way with this idea. It is possible to learn how to be successful from another person. The only point I'm making is that you also need to be careful about who you're taking your lessons from and what they're telling you. (Are they concerned for your success or do they have another motive?)

It means being rigorous about DUE DILIGENCE.

I know, I know,... Due diligence sounds pretty boring, and it is boring UNTIL you realise that it's saved you from making a huge mistake.

Look at it this way.

Before Sir Richard Branson started Virgin Atlantic do you think he had someone look into whether breaking into the highly competitive airline business could be a successful proposition? Do you think he asked someone passing by on the street outside or do you think he employed some people who knew a thing or ten about the airline industry?

So okay, I'm not going to give you example after example, they're easy enough to pull up if you think about it. Just consider the people who have been successful and ask yourself whether they've applied due diligence.

Summary of this section:

By all means listen to what other people tell you about being successful, but apply due diligence, decide whether they have an ulterior motive and decide whether they devote themselves to helping people to be successful or whether they are just another ME-TOO jumping on the bandwagon.